Do windshield wiper motors fail by becoming weak?

[Stephen Tashiro]

Do windshield wiper motors usually fail by becoming weak - versus not running at all?

On a 2011 Corolla, the passenger's windshield wiper doesn't work properly. In it's normal position, the wiper doesn't operate, but if I pivot the wiper away from the windshield the wiper motor will turn the wiper. In its normal position. I see nothing that jams the wiper in place.

I find the situation surprising because I expect electric motors to fail by ceasing to run at all.

[Mike Henderson]

If it's a DC motor with brushes, the brushes may be worn.

Mike

[Stephen Tashiro]

After watching some videos about winshield wiper repair (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJL33ybYkX0 ) I conclude the problem is probably with the windshield wiper linkage, not the motor. I won't know for sure till I take things apart.

[roger wiegand]

Back in the old days of vacuum motors the grease inside would get dirty and sludgy and the wipers would get progressively slower-- or more intermittent.

Last time I had an electric one that behaved as you described there was a stripped gear in the mechanism. It would work the wiper with no load but it just spun in place with any resistance. A new motor was a quick $12 fix on a '68 Dodge Dart.

[Jim Matthews]

How old are the wiper blades?

Does the entire assembly pivot, if you move it by hand?

[Jim Koepke]

I won't know for sure till I take things apart.

Unless things are different on Toyotas most cars use one motor for both wipers.

You may have a loose bolt connecting the wiper arm to the transmission unit from under the hood to where it connects with the wiper arm.

jtk

[John Terefenko]

There is an electronic board in them and it goes bad.

[Alex Zeller]

Loose nut holding the arm on. Both wipers are connected so if one is working then the other should be unless there's a major failure that connects the two arms together (in which case one just wouldn't work at all). There should be a cap over the nut. You might be able to pull up on it or possibly pry it off to expose the nut. If you tighten it make sure the wipers are off and the other one has return to it's normal resting place. Then make sure the one that's not working is also in it's normal resting place before tightening the nut.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I spent 20 years in the taxi industry, and after a while everything had to be replaced/repaired. Including WW linkage.
Probably your issue. Possible but unlikely it’s the motor.

[Kev Williams]

What Terenfenko said, or possible bad motor... and based on this statement-

if I pivot the wiper away from the windshield the wiper motor will turn the wiper.
My bet is a bad motor. Wiper motors have a RUN function and a PARK function. When parked the motor always ends up in the same place, which means they start from the same place. Since your wipers move after jostling them a bit, it's my guess your armature has a dead spot in the parked position, and moving the wipers a bit moves the armature to a live spot where the motor will start... if the linkage was binding and keeping the motor from turning, I'd suspect a blown fuse before too long...?


.

[Warren Lake]

look the car up in case it has history.

I just did a 2003 Saturn (stop laughing) original mechanism was by Bosch but they blew it. Replacement was by Bosch even though listed as Delco and that one had metal bushings instead of plastic. One wiper would work the other one was trying to escape. Its embarrasing when you drive past a cop and one windshield wiper is hanging off the side of your car.

New one I put in was simple. 10 people on the net telling you how to do it as it as such a common problem with those cars.

Sometimes we are victims of bad parts. One brand of rad in my friends fancy cars was all over the net for leaking water into transmissions. 6k later and me going into battle they just laughed at me. Her father had owned 20 of them over the years always several stopping at the 400k model and deciding he better listen to his wife.

is one of them working and one of them no. That was my case and all that failed were the driver side.

[Bruce King]

Saw a guy once holding his broken wiper arm out the window and swiping the window. He was doing 35 in the rain so don’t fret, there is a manual backup.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Single motor drives both wipers. If one is working, then the motor isn't the problem. Where the arm connects to drive mechanism, there is a splined connection. If the nut is loose, this may be slipping.

[Warren Lake]

there are splines on the arm shaft rare but they can strip as well

[Bill Dufour]

One motor drives both front wipers. So the passenger wiper arm is loose or the transmisson is bad.
AFAIK rear wipers also use one motor for both wipers, if they have two back there.
Bil lD

[roger wiegand]

In my dad's 51 chevy pickup the vacuum wiper motor died and we tied a rope to each of the wipers and then in through the windows on each side; one of us kids would alternately pull on the ends of the rope to make the wipers operate.

[Warren Lake]

Roger how many different speeds did you have?

[Kev Williams]

so I totally missed the 'passenger side' part ;)

So since I have no idea how the linkage is setup, I found some good pics-
452733452734


From the looks of it, about all that could be causing the problem is either

the wiper mount splines are worn out (could be splines on the wiper OR the linkage),
452737



Or the linkage connection spline is worn out and slipping
452736


OR it might be some is amiss with another of the arm connections?

If it's not the wiper itself, the entire linkage setup is for sale on eBay for all of $39...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284046007398?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACQBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252 Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkkSOJKtkiStBkKEu55%252FS4Ph% 252FZKMSMgkcBMMBw3ZV92RW7e6GVuQt%252BPmL2C%252BseD 6BuLg2dKOMw5RhqRw1r%252FHwkQb%252Fv57BlQmYNOYrX4Hj YHVg2ZVcDkDMorB5H82xsHAG84HvFWacN0bDV%252F2JpBgcWL sMvQGUipZ3OiMN6RWYOOeUYN7GWD1Rx%252F0OfqfKdCIQnO9V Isyb3F0h3NPRMRz%252FnkKwC9roPr0wPkEeqmh0YhpHxu9zLF aAcpa1b7mx0SchO5xZz65tnV0vP4lzTDaVQWNq5%252BGt4n4W 06WqtSxn74E7dGcKf3aLRwmflY3nz9oRlRTf5qL27dxLSU52O7 %252BfCiuIIS2cX4Ud7VO7mSeZQ2rD3BUGiiFPdYZADUS9IHUe %252F4AJDmUE%252FTtuZvKJhQlnb%252BCutkddYZx5pCAVFy XfBe2Xsv3AlWMuWKDT1zY2nz456MurXJ7E6bNIzt6TEBtvyu%2 52BwDLvYotTxEUh1AjTzRIoAnLW%252FfKXp3NLeofSKPQCPQR cen9aBaiiuGkLvxziyMKotXTF%252BxJBgWo%252FUnJKzo0Tl ictpq8yRQ%252BokOYVrqep7LTKeeJAGA%252B%252FZaoOnPc FPQKqI89Ka%252F5PfN9rT%252BQlZPOsCzEeWIOb4K2dZdtz8 YwSktlmQtDBzIeqylds%252BYtC5UDreJzMCjIQsVushFQE3GR o8DKL2WvAzTOFwJ222tU%252FP%252B1gytCwlI7EoDPPZBolP y9Q%253D%253D%7Ccksum%3A28404600739858f633f32a524e 17a0dbbda55ddeb6ea%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A326822 0&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=284046007398&targetid=1098102009964&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9029741&poi=&campaignid=11774733487&mkgroupid=113829509425&rlsatarget=pla-1098102009964&abcId=9300474&merchantid=112001076&gclid=Cj0KCQiApsiBBhCKARIsAN8o_4h1N7F9_-BPMSAgrmWWSz4d9IZbWET_-pTvkBn36siZU7hkuPOXpTsaAkV7EALw_wcB

[Stephen Tashiro]

It turns out that on the 2011 Corolla, the metal windshield wiper arm is held to the linkage mechanism by a connection that uses a rubber ring to hold the two together only by friction. Tightening the nut that presses them together fixed the problem. The only thing I had to take off to do this was the little plastic cap on the arm that covers the nut.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Haven't had a wiper problem since my 1963 Studebaker Lark. We were on a road trip back from Florida and ended up with sneaker laces tied to the wipers to pull them back and forth by hand.